“Hello, Rue. I’m Patience,” she said softly and she glanced over to the table where the older woman had set down a pan of cinnamon buns. “Are you hungry? Mammi has some sticky buns.”
Rue lifted her head from Thomas’s shoulder and looked toward the table.
“Have you ever had a grandmother before?” Patience asked.
Rue shook her head.
“Well, you have one now. This is Mammi. Mammies are kind and sweet and they cook the best food...” Patience bent down conspiratorially. “I’m glad to meet your new mammi, too!”
Mammi smiled. “Come now, Rue,” she said gently. “I think you’ll like my sticky buns.”
Thomas put Rue back down and she went toward the table, sidling up next to Mammi like a hurt animal looking for protection. Mammi bent down to talk to her, and Thomas heaved a sigh.
“She looks very sweet,” Patience said, and Thomas glanced over. Patience met his gaze with her clear blue eyes, and for a moment, he felt all the words clam up inside him. Why did the schoolteacher have to be so distractingly pretty?
“Yah,” he said after a moment. “I’ve just met her, myself.”
“How did that—” Patience stopped and blushed. “I mean, this is the first you’ve met her?”
“I had a rebellious Rumspringa,” he said quietly. “One I learned from. I’m not proud of that.”
In fact, he’d meant to keep the secret for the rest of his days, if he could. What use was it to the community to advertise his weakness? But that secret was no longer possible, and his mistakes were about to be very public.
“I’m not judging,” she murmured.
But she was. Everyone would. Thomas would, too, if he were in their place. What did she think of him now?
The door opened again, and the social services woman came inside with a suitcase, and things turned official once more. There was discussion of dental visits, doctor’s appointments and counseling for the family to help with the transition if they should feel the need.
“No,” Thomas said, shaking his head. “We have our ways, and if there is one thing our people do, it’s raise kinner. She’ll be loved...dearly.”
Emotion choked off his voice, and he forced a smile as he shook Tanya’s hand in farewell.
“Congratulations, Mr. Wiebe,” Tanya said. “You have a beautiful daughter.”
“Thank you,” he said.
That was the first anyone had congratulated him yet. Noah, Amos and Mammi had reassured him, but that was a different sentiment. In this community, Rue was a shock. Not only did Thomas have to confess to a rather large mistake in her conception, but he was bringing an Englisher child into their midst. The Amish understood the trouble he’d brought to everyone, and one did not congratulate a mess.
“I’m going to give you my phone number, and some information to help you in this transition,” Tanya went on, and for the next few minutes, he attempted to grasp all that she was saying. The Englishers had their ways, but the Amish would pull together and deal with this the way they always had—with community. He accepted the pamphlets and brochures that she handed to him before walking out the door.
There were always consequences—to his own household and to the community. The Amish protected their boundaries for a reason—there were other young people who could be influenced. Their way of life was not only an act of worship, it was a wall between themselves and the world. He’d just brought a piece of the outside world into their midst in the form of his tiny daughter. There would be strong opinions, he had no doubt, and he couldn’t blame his neighbors if they voiced them.
This was precisely why a man needed to behave himself before marriage, and now he must shoulder those consequences. Thomas stood there by the door for a moment as he listened to the social services agent start her car.
Gott, guide me, he prayed silently. I know I went wrong out there in the world, but she’s just a little mite, and... She’s mine.
He was Rue’s daet. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Patience went into the kitchen and opened a cupboard, looking for the plates. Mammi stood at the table, slicing the cinnamon buns apart with a paring knife, but she’d need plates to serve them on. This was Patience’s role in any Amish home—to help out in the kitchen. She didn’t need to be asked, and she didn’t need permission. She found the plates in the second cupboard that she checked, and she glanced over at the table to do a quick head count.
Thomas stood beside the table, and his gaze was trained on her. He was a good-looking man—tall with broad shoulders and dark eyes that could lock her down... But he didn’t seem to see her, exactly. He seemed more to be deep in thought. And could she blame him? His life had just turned upside down.
Patience brought the plates to the table, and Mammi used the tip of the knife to pry up a cinnamon bun and plop it onto a plate. When she gave the first plate to Amos, he slid the cinnamon bun in front of Rue instead, and a smile lit up the girl’s face.
The men were served first, so she accepted a cinnamon bun from Mammi and angled her steps around the table and over to where Thomas stood.
“For you,” she said, holding out the plate.
“No, no...” Thomas shook his head. “You eat it.”
Patience held the plate but didn’t take a bite. “Are you all right, Thomas?”
He roused himself then. “Yah. I’m fine.”
She followed his gaze to the little girl. Rue looked so out of place in her Englisher clothes. Pink and purple. And pants on a girl, too—it wasn’t right. But all the same, Rue was such a slender little thing—her head looking almost too big for her body.
“She needs some dresses,” Patience said.
“Yah.” Thomas brightened. “The social services woman left all these Englisher clothes, but when we get
